Ornamental plants are economically important worldwide. Both growers and consumers ask continuously for new, improved varieties. Although there are numerous ornamental species, ornamental plant breeding and plant breeding research is mainly limited to some major species. This book focuses on the recent advances and achievements in ornamental plant breeding. The first part of the book focuses on plant traits and breeding techniques that are typical for ornamental plants. Eminent research groups write these general chapters. For plant traits like flower colour or shape, breeding for disease resistance and vase or shelf life are reviewed. General technical plant breeding chapters deal with mutation breeding, polyploidisation, in vitro breeding techniques and new developments in molecular techniques. The second part of the book consists of crop-specific chapters. Here all economically major ornamental species are handled together with selected representative species from different plant groups (cut flowers, pot plants, woody ornamental plants). In these crop-specific chapters, the main focus is on recent scientific achievements over the last decade.

Dr. Johan Van Huylenbroeck is a plant breeder at the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) in Belgium. Besides practical breeding, he also coordinates numerous research projects on ornamental plants. Since 2006, he leads the Applied Breeding and Genetics group, a team of 20 researchers and 30 technical staff members. His research focuses mainly on (1) the development of efficient hybridization and selection strategies, (2) the creation of cultivars for sustainable agriculture and horticulture; (3) the use of DNA markers assisted breeding techniques for quantitative and qualitative traits and (4) marker-based analysis of genetic diversity and identity. In close collaboration with the industry, his group runs breeding programs in a.o. azalea, outdoor roses and woody ornamentals. Specific breeding goals in woody ornamentals are disease resistance, enlargement of the existing diversity via interspecific hybridization and compact growing plants.